HARDEE COUNTY, Fla. — Investigators from the Wauchula Police Department are heading north after a homicide suspect was captured.
Police said that Mathew Scott Flores was involved in a chase that crossed three counties in North Carolina on Feb. 2 and that he was being charged with second-degree murder for the killing of Jose Carlos Martinez.
The chase ended with a crash along Main Street and Hollis Road. Flores was then taken to a hospital.
On January 24, Wauchula Police said Flores was involved in an incident within city limits, and during the incident, a man was shot multiple times and later pronounced dead.
Chief John Eason explained that homicides in the city are very uncommon.
“Any kind of case that would be classified as a homicide for us, in the last 20 plus years, 30 years actually going back to the early 90s, we’ve only had four, including this one," said Eason.
Now investigators are also looking into a possible connection to another case.
According to ABC Action News' sister station WPTV, Flores was arrested for driving a vehicle that belongs to a missing Lyft driver.
Family members of Gary Levin, 74, told WPTV he was last seen on Monday in Palm Beach Gardens. His family said he was scheduled to pick someone up shortly before 1:30 p.m.
"For him to go completely off the map, that's not at all normal," Lindsay DiBetta, Levin's daughter, said Wednesday. "We don't know if he actually picked up the person or if he picked up a person as it was completed or what happened," she added.
Wauchula Police also said that Stephanie Velgara, who they claimed assisted Flores in fleeing from Florida law enforcement, has been arrested and is being charged as an accessory.
“While we do still have an active, ongoing homicide investigation that’s occurred within the city limits of Wauchula, our primary focus at this point is doing everything we can to help assist Palm Beach Gardens with finding Mr. Levin," said Chief Eason.
Anyone who may have seen Levin is asked to contact the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department at 561-799-4445.
